Eighty-five years after Humphrey Bogart slipped into Sam Spade’s suit, The Maltese Falcon still sits near the top of American mystery movies. The American Film Institute ranks the 1941 classic No. 6 among its 10 greatest mysteries and No. 31 on its broader list of the greatest American films.
What makes that staying power more remarkable is that Hollywood had already tried the story twice. John Huston’s celebrated film was actually Warner Bros.’ third screen adaptation of Dashiell Hammett’s detective novel—and the version that finally turned the material into a landmark.
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Hollywood Had Already Tried ‘The Maltese Falcon’ Twice
Actors Humphrey Bogart and Lee Patrick pose for a publicity still for the Warner Bros film ‘The Maltese Falcon’ in 1941.Photo by Getty Images
Warner Bros. first filmed Hammett’s novel in 1931, with Ricardo Cortez playing Sam Spade. Five years later, the studio tried again with Satan Met a Lady, starring Bette Davis and Warren William. The AFI Catalog confirms that Hammett’s book “had been filmed twice before by Warner Bros.”
Then came Huston.
The future Oscar winner was making his feature directorial debut, and the Library of Congress credits his fidelity to Hammett with helping the third version finally click. Its National Film Registry description calls Huston “the catalyst for its success” and Bogart the film’s “heart and soul.”
Bogart’s hard-edged Spade also helped establish the screen persona that would follow him into Casablanca and The Big Sleep. The Library of Congress describes the movie as “among the most influential movies to emerge from the Hollywood studio system.”
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The Remake Became the Version Hollywood Remembered
The gamble paid off immediately. The Maltese Falcon earned three Academy Award nominations, including Outstanding Motion Picture, supporting actor for Sydney Greenstreet and screenplay for Huston.
Its reputation has only strengthened. Rotten Tomatoes currently gives it a 99-percent Tomatometer score and calls it “suspenseful, labyrinthine, and brilliantly cast.” The Library of Congress selected it for the inaugural class of the National Film Registry in 1989.
Perhaps its most fitting legacy comes in Spade’s famous description of the coveted falcon: “The stuff that dreams are made of.” AFI ranks the line among American cinema’s most memorable quotes.
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This story was originally published by Men’s Journal on Aug 28, 2026, where it first appeared in the Entertainment section. Add Men’s Journal as a Preferred Source by clicking here.
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